System and method for measuring the virality of internet content using indices

ABSTRACT

A system may measure the virality of content items on a network. The virality may be measured for Internet content using indices. Indices may be generated that represent the share or news worthiness of content. An indexer may monitor the content items and generate a score which may be used to identify which content items are most likely to receive a user access request or referral from the remote server. A logic generator may display visual elements as graphical representations of the index score.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present description relates generally to a system and method,generally referred to as a system, for measuring the virality ofInternet content using indices. More specifically, the presentdescription relates to a system for generating indices representing theperformance, share worthiness, and/or news worthiness of content itemswhich may be found in the Internet.

BACKGROUND

The evolution and development of electronic technology and data transfersystems allow more users to interact with each other faster and moreoften. Extraordinary amounts of information and data are sharedelectronically at a nearly continuous rate. Users may post or sendinformation or data of interest to others whenever and as often as theuser chooses. The Internet provides users with access to various typesof web content, such as web pages and other web documents or articles.For instance, the Internet may enable users to view articles or reportson a multitude of topics including, among other things, news reports(e.g., local, national, and world), weather reports, sports articles,reference material, financial content, social media, and othercategories of information. Due to the large amount of informationavailable on the Internet, various tools, such as search engines, havebeen developed to help users find web content pertaining to a particulartopic. Search engines may enable users to search web content by keyword.For example, in response to receiving a keyword from a user, a searchengine may return a list of web pages that relate to the keyword. Inthis way, search engines may enable a user to quickly locate andretrieve particular content items associated with specific search topicsof interest.

In some cases, an amount of web content, such as web pages and other webdocuments, may collectively provide insight into web activity associatedwith particular topics. For example, a large number of web pages withreferences to a particular search topic (e.g., a new book or movie) mayindicate a high level of web activity for the search topic. Similarly, asmall number of web pages with references to a particular search topicmay indicate a low level of web activity for the search topic. However,search engines and other tools for finding information on the Internetmay not provide advertisers and other users with sufficient indicationsof trends in user accesses of particular content items. Moreover, searchengines and other tools do not provide users or web site providers withup-to-date indications of the performance, or news or share worthiness,of content items.

Online advertising has become an important source of revenue forenterprises engaged in electronic commerce. Processes associated withtechnologies such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and HypertextTransfer Protocol (HTTP) enable a web page to be configured to displayadvertisements. Those advertisements may be targeted based on a user'spreferences. In addition to advertisements, other material and resourceson a web page may also be targeted for a particular user. In certainsituations, it may be difficult to identify a user and/or obtainknowledge regarding that user. In these situations, and in others, itmay be preferential to associate an advertisement directly with aparticular content item.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The system and/or method may be better understood with reference to thefollowing drawings and description. Non-limiting and non-exhaustivedescriptions are described with reference to the following drawings. Thecomponents in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis insteadbeing placed upon illustrating principles. In the figures, likereferenced numerals may refer to like parts throughout the differentfigures unless otherwise specified.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary network system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary content item indexer.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of exemplary characteristics for propertyclassifications.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of exemplary characteristics used by the displaylogic for ordering indices.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method of generating an indexmeasurement of the performance of a content item.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of exemplary method for utilizing the indexmeasurement to generate graphical representations of the indices.

FIG. 7 shows an exemplary graphical representation of content itemproperty classifications.

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary graphical representation of content itemaccess requests based on access origin.

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary graphical representation of the indices orperformance of content items.

FIG. 10 shows an exemplary graphical representation of the highestperforming index measurements of content items within a propertyclassification.

FIG. 11 shows an exemplary graphical representation of the lowestperforming index measurements of content items within a propertyclassification.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Subject matter will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, andwhich show, by way of illustration, specific example embodiments.Subject matter may, however, be embodied in a variety of different formsand, therefore, covered or claimed subject matter is intended to beconstrued as not being limited to any example embodiments set forthherein; example embodiments are provided merely to be illustrative.Likewise, a reasonably broad scope for claimed or covered subject matteris intended. Among other things, for example, subject matter may beembodied as methods, devices, components, or systems. Accordingly,embodiments may, for example, take the form of hardware, software,firmware or any combination thereof (other than software per se). Thefollowing detailed description is, therefore, not intended to be takenin a limiting sense.

Throughout the specification and claims, terms may have nuanced meaningssuggested or implied in context beyond an explicitly stated meaning.Likewise, the phrase “in one embodiment” as used herein does notnecessarily refer to the same embodiment and the phrases “in anotherembodiment” or “in further embodiments” as used herein does notnecessarily refer to a different embodiment. It is intended, forexample, that claimed subject matter include combinations of exampleembodiments in whole or in part.

In general, terminology may be understood at least in part from usage incontext. For example, terms, such as “and”, “or”, or “and/or,” as usedherein may include a variety of meanings that may depend at least inpart upon the context in which such terms are used. Typically, “or” ifused to associate a list, such as A, B or C, is intended to mean A, B,and C, here used in the inclusive sense, as well as A, B or C, here usedin the exclusive sense. In addition, the term “one or more” as usedherein, depending at least in part upon context, may be used to describeany feature, structure, or characteristic in a singular sense or may beused to describe combinations of features, structures, orcharacteristics in a plural sense. Similarly, terms, such as “a,” “an,”or “the,” again, may be understood to convey a singular usage or toconvey a plural usage, depending at least in part upon context. Inaddition, the term “based on” may be understood as not necessarilyintended to convey an exclusive set of factors and may, instead, allowfor existence of additional factors

By way of introduction, communications technologies allow consumers,businesses, advertisers, and other organizations (generally referred toherein as “users”) to rapidly exchange information, data, and ideas.Users may transmit, receive, or otherwise share content through or usinga variety of electronic media, networks, and formats. “Content item,” asused herein, generally refers to web content that may be displayed on aweb page or otherwise accessed and viewed by a user. Content items maytake a wide range of formats, and may include, among other things, webdocuments, articles, search results, social blogs, news reports (e.g.,local, national, and world), weather reports, sports articles, referencematerial, financial content, social media content, as well as othersources of information.

Search engines have traditionally been used to help users find contentpertaining to a particular topic of interest. Similarly, social mediawebsites now provide a platform allowing users to search, find, review,edit, post, and share content items with other users in their socialnetwork. Other users within the social network of a particular user,whether it be a limited network of associated users or an open network,are likewise able to view, edit, and re-post content items that werepreviously shared by other members within, or even outside of, thenetwork. Moreover, many websites across the Internet display contentitems side-by-side easily accessible hyperlinks that allow users toquickly share those content items directly on their respective socialnetworks. For instance, a user of a social network may navigate to anarticle hosted on a third-party website, such as ESPN.com orNYTIMES.com. The user may read the article and decide to share it on asocial network, either via a quick-link on the page displaying thearticle, or by directly copying the article unique resource locator(URL) into the social network interface, thereby allowing the content tobe shared within the social network. Other users within the socialnetwork may then access, view, and re-post the content their own socialnetwork.

As content items receive more views, and in turn receive more shareswithin various social networks or gains, the content item may reach apoint where the content goes viral and exponentially increases in useraccess requests. As used herein, “viral” refers to a social phenomenonin which a driving force, such as appeal or general interest, inducesusers to replicate, or otherwise engage in, an action that causes acontent item to be shared with or distributed to other users, therebycausing the idea or content item to be spread among or accessed by alarge numbers of users in a relatively short period of time. At anystage of the process, user access requests may come from large varietyof sources, including, but not limited to, from links within a socialnetwork, explicit shares of the content item with one or more users(e.g. via a hyperlink on the web page or within the social network), orfrom users clicking on the results displayed from keyword searches on asearch engine. At any rate, a content item that goes viral is morelikely to be accessed by and shared with other users than a content itemthat has been accessed by comparatively fewer users.

Given the growth and importance of online advertising as a source ofrevenue for enterprises engaged in electronic commerce, onlineadvertisers may benefit from associating their advertisements withcontent items that have gone viral. Specifically, in instances where thesocial attributes of a user are difficult to determine, it may beparticularly beneficial to associate advertisements with content items,and even more beneficial to associate advertisements with content itemsthat have gone viral. Moreover, website producers may benefit fromtailoring their editorial content to reflect the trends in Internet userbehavior, including, for example, displaying those articles which havegone viral on a landing or homepage in order to attract more users.Historically, so-called viral marketing was forced to rely onword-of-mouth communication and interaction between internet users toachieve increases in brand awareness or other marketing objectives. Inthe present day, the growth in use of the Internet to view articles andother content items, as well as the expansion in social networking, hascaused marketers to rely on the network effects of the Internet to reachconsumers with advertisements.

The present disclosure is directed to allowing users, including websiteproviders and advertises, to more efficiently track and monitor trendsin user access requests to content items. Using the Internet, a numberof users may access various content items on websites hosted on variousservers. An indexing mechanism is provided that may monitor user accessto content items in order to identify value rankings or indices forthose content items. The indices may be utilized by users to indicateperformance of respective content items, including virality and/or shareor news worthiness. For example, the indexing mechanism may identify aquantity of access requests to a content item originating from a givensource, such as a social network or search engine. The indexingmechanism may consider the proportionality of views originating from thesource as they relate to access requests from other sources in order togenerate an index score reflecting the behavior of users on theInternet. For example, in one embodiment, the indexing mechanism maygenerate an index score in accordance to the method further described inconnection with FIG. 5.

The index score may then be graphically represented to facilitateefficient analysis of the behavior of Internet users, as furtherdescribed in connection with FIG. 6. An advertiser or webpage host mayutilize the indexing mechanism and/or graphical representations to, forexample, determine which content items are particularly likely to beviewed by users or to receive explicit shares on social networks, andthus would be good targets for advertisements. Additionally, a webpagehost may further utilize the indexing mechanism to determine whichcontent items should be deemed more newsworthy and, for example, shouldtherefore be displayed on homepages or landing pages in order to attractgreater user traffic. Many potential uses for the indexing mechanismand/or graphical representation thereof are envisioned, and the examplesherein are intended to be non-limiting examples.

An indexer may be operable to generate an index of content, includingassociated contextual content, such as for one or more databases, whichmay be searched to locate content, including contextual content. Anindex may include index entries, wherein an index entry may be assigneda value referred to as a weight. An index entry may include a portion ofthe database. In some embodiments, an indexer may use an inverted indexthat stores a mapping from content to its locations in a database file,or in a document or a set of documents. A record level inverted indexcontains a list of references to documents for each word. A word levelinverted index additionally contains the positions of each word within adocument. A weight for an index entry may be assigned. For example, aweight, in one example embodiment may be assigned substantially inaccordance with a difference between the number of records indexedwithout the index entry and the number of records indexed with the indexentry.

A search engine may enable a device, such as a client device, to searchfor files of interest using a search query. Typically, a search enginemay be accessed by a client device via one or more servers. A searchengine may, for example, in one illustrative embodiment, comprise acrawler component, an indexer component, an index storage component, asearch component, a ranking component, a cache, a profile storagecomponent, a logon component, a profile builder, and one or moreapplication program interfaces (APIs). A search engine may be deployedin a distributed manner, such as via a set of distributed servers, forexample. Components may be duplicated within a network, such as forredundancy or better access.

Other systems, methods, features and advantages will be, or will become,apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the followingfigures and detailed description. It is intended that all suchadditional systems, methods, features and advantages be included withinthis description, be within the scope of the invention, and be protectedby the following claims. Nothing in this section should be taken as alimitation on those claims. Further aspects and advantages are discussedbelow.

Referring now to the figures, FIG. 1 depicts a block diagramillustrating one embodiment of an exemplary network system 100. Thenetwork system 100 may provide a platform for indexing, or measuring thevirality or news worthiness of, content items by analyzing user accessrequest data for a particular content item. In the network system 100, auser device 102 is coupled with a publisher server 106 through a network104. The publisher server 106 may be operated by and/or coupled with apublisher 108, as well as coupled with a publisher database 110. A userdevice 102 may also be coupled with a referral server 122 through thenetwork 104. An indexer 112 may be coupled with the publisher server 106and/or the referral server 122. Herein, the phrase “coupled with” isdefined to mean directly connected to or indirectly connected throughone or more intermediate components. Such intermediate components mayinclude both hardware and software based components. Variations in thearrangement and type of the components may be made without departingfrom the spirit or scope of the claims as set forth herein. Additional,different or fewer components may be provided.

The user device 102 may be a computing device which allows a user 101 toconnect to a network 104, such as the Internet. A user 101, which may bea consumer, accesses a web page via the network 104. The accessed pagemay include one or more content items, such as articles or products, andmay provide tracking information for an advertiser to target. The userdevice 102 may also be referred to as a client device and may include acomputing device capable of sending or receiving signals, such as via awired or a wireless network (e.g. the network 104, which may be theInternet). The user device 102 may, for example, include a desktopcomputer or a portable device, such as a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a display pager, a radio frequency (RF) device, an infrared (IR)device, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld computer, atablet computer, a laptop computer, a set top box, a wearable computer,an integrated device combining various features, such as features of theforgoing devices, or the like. The user device 102 may vary in terms ofcapabilities or features, particularly with regard to display size andaspect ratio. The different display sizes and aspect ratios fordifferent user devices may result in an advertisement being rendereddifferently for those particular user devices. For example, a cell phonemay include a numeric keypad or a display of limited functionality, suchas a monochrome liquid crystal display (LCD) for displaying text. Incontrast, however, as another example, a web-enabled client device mayinclude one or more physical or virtual keyboards, mass storage, one ormore accelerometers, one or more gyroscopes, global positioning system(GPS) or other location-identifying type capability, or a display with ahigh degree of functionality, such as a touch-sensitive color 2D or 3Ddisplay, for example.

The user device 102 may include or may execute a variety of operatingsystems, including a personal computer operating system, such as aWINDOWS®, MAC OS X®, UNIX®, IOS®, or LINUX®, or a mobile operatingsystem, such as IOS®, ANDROID®, or WINDOWS MOBILE®, or the like. Theuser device 102 may include or may execute a variety of possibleapplications, such as a client software application enablingcommunication with other devices, such as communicating one or moremessages, such as via email, short message service (SMS), or multimediamessage service (MMS), including via a network, such as a socialnetwork, including, for example, FACEBOOK®, LINKEDIN®, TWITTER®,FLICKR®, or GOOGLE+®, to provide only a few possible examples. The userdevice 102 may also include or execute an application to communicatecontent, such as, for example, textual content, multimedia content, orthe like. The user device 102 may also include or execute an applicationto perform a variety of possible tasks, such as browsing, searching,playing various forms of content, including locally stored or streamedvideo, or games (such as fantasy sports leagues). The foregoing isprovided to illustrate that claimed subject matter is intended toinclude a wide range of possible features or capabilities. As describedbelow, the user device 102 views a content item page that includesmultiple functionality that may be monitored by the advertiser 124.

In one embodiment, the user device 102 is configured to request andreceive information from a network (e.g. the network 104, which may bethe Internet). The information may include web pages withadvertisements. The user device 102 may be configured to access otherdata/information in addition to web pages over the network 104 using aweb browser, such as INTERNET EXPLORER® (sold by Microsoft Corp.,Redmond, Wash.) or FIREFOX® (provided by Mozilla). In an alternativeembodiment, software programs other than web browsers may also displaypages received over the network 104 or from a different source. Asdescribed below, content item pages may include numerous features andadvertisements on a single page that may be monitored in real time.

In one embodiment, the publisher server 106 provides an interface to anetwork 104 and/or provides its web pages over the network, such as tothe user device 102. The publisher server 106 may be a web server thatprovides the user device 102 with pages (including articles or productsearch results) that are requested over the network, such as by a userof the user device 102. In particular, the publisher 108 may provide aweb page, or a series of web pages that are provided by the publisherserver 106 when requested from the user device 102. The content providedby the publisher server 106 may be targeted depending on the user 101that is operating the user device 102. Additionally, the content may betargeted based on a virality index or measure of the content item'sperformance and/or share or newsworthiness, as described below. Thepublisher server 106 may be operated by a publisher 108 that maintainsand oversees the operation of the publisher server 106. The publisher108 may be any operator of a page displaying advertisements thatreceives a payment from the advertisers of those advertisements. Thepublisher 108 may receive payment from advertisers based on a per viewbasis. In one embodiment, a page may include a content item that isaccessed by a user, such as an article or report or any otherinformation that may be accessed and/or shared by users within anetwork.

The publisher database 110 may be coupled with the publisher server 106and may store the publisher's pages or data that is provided by thepublisher server 106. The stored data may include, for example, articlesor product information, as well as data analyzing the articles orproducts for display on the page when a user accesses the page. Thearticle page and/or product pages may also display one or moreadvertisements. The advertisements may be displayed on web pages (e.g.product pages or news articles), such as the publisher's pages.

The user device 102 may also access a web page, or the series of webpages, that are provided by the publisher server 106 via a referralserver 122. A referral server 122 may be a web server that provides theuser device 102 with pages that are requested over the network 104. Thepages provided by the referral server 122 may include URLs or hyperlinksto content items, such as to pages displaying articles or productinformation. In one embodiment, a referral server 122 may be a searchengine server that may yield a page of links to content items along withimages, price, and/or reviews as a result of a keyword search. A usermay click the links to be referred to the data or pages provided by thepublisher server 106. In another embodiment, a referral server 122 maybe a social network server. The pages served by the social networkserver may include ways for users to share links to content items, suchas pages displaying articles or product information displayed.Additionally, pages that are provided by the publisher server 106 mayinclude links within the page that allow a user to quickly share thepage on social network server via network 104.

The publisher server 106 and/or the referral server 122 may be one ormore computing devices which may be capable of sending or receivingsignals, such as via a wired or wireless network, or may be capable ofprocessing or storing signals, such as in memory as physical memorystates, and may, therefore, operate as a server. Thus, devices capableof operating as a server may include, as examples, dedicatedrack-mounted servers, desktop computers, laptop computers, set topboxes, integrated devices combining various features, such as two ormore features of the foregoing devices, or the like. Servers may vary inconfiguration or capabilities, but generally a server may include one ormore central processing units and memory. A server may also include oneor more mass storage devices, one or more power supplies, one or morewired or wireless network interfaces, one or more input/outputinterfaces, or one or more operating systems.

In addition, the publisher server 106 and/or the referral server 122 maybe or may be part of a content server. A content server may include adevice that includes a configuration to provide content via a network toanother device. A content server may, for example, host a site, such asa social networking site, or a personal user site (such as a blog, vlog,online dating site, etc.). A content server may also host a variety ofother sites, including, but not limited to business sites, educationalsites, dictionary sites, encyclopedia sites, wikis, financial sites,government sites, etc. A content server may further provide a variety ofservices that include, but are not limited to, web services, third-partyservices, audio services, video services, email services, instantmessaging (IM) services, SMS services, MMS services, FTP services, voiceover IP (VOIP) services, calendaring services, photo services, or thelike. Examples of content may include text, images, audio, video, or thelike, which may be processed in the form of physical signals, such aselectrical signals, for example, or may be stored in memory, as physicalstates, for example. Examples of devices that may operate as a contentserver include desktop computers, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-type or programmable consumer electronics, etc.

The indexer 112 may generate an index or measurement indicating thevirality or share worthiness of a content item. In addition, the indexer112 may be further configured to generate a page with a number ofelements that allow users to view and organize information about thevirality index or measurement. In one embodiment, the indexer 112 may becontrolled by the publisher 108 and may be a part of the publisherserver 106. In another embodiment, the indexer 112 may be controlled bythe referral server 122 and may be a part of the referral server 122.Alternatively, the indexer 112 may be part of a separate entity. Theindexer 112 may receive elements from the referral server 122 and/or thepublisher server 106 that are used as part of a product page or aproduct search result page. The indexer 112 is further described withrespect to FIG. 2.

The indexer 112 may be a computing device for generating a product orgraphic display page with a plurality of elements and for monitoringuser interaction with those elements and the page. The indexer 112 mayinclude a processor 120, memory 118, software 116 and an interface 114.The indexer 112 may be a separate component from the publisher server106 and/or the referral server 122, or may be combined as a singlecomponent or device.

The interface 114 may communicate with any of the user device 102, thepublisher server 106, and/or the referral server 122. The interface 114may include a user interface configured to allow a user and/oradministrator to interact with any of the components of the indexer 112.For example, the administrator and/or user may be able to monitor userinteraction with a content item page and generate an index associatedwith that content item page.

The processor 120 in the indexer 112 may include a central processingunit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor(DSP) or other type of processing device. The processor 120 may be acomponent in any one of a variety of systems. For example, the processor120 may be part of a standard personal computer or a workstation. Theprocessor 120 may be one or more general processors, digital signalprocessors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmablegate arrays, servers, networks, digital circuits, analog circuits,combinations thereof, or other now known or later developed devices foranalyzing and processing data. The processor 120 may operate inconjunction with a software program, such as code generated manually(i.e., programmed).

The processor 120 may be coupled with a memory 118, or the memory 118may be a separate component. The interface 114 and/or the software 116may be stored in the memory 118. The memory 118 may include, but is notlimited to, computer readable storage media such as various types ofvolatile and non-volatile storage media, including random access memory,read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electricallyprogrammable read-only memory, electrically erasable read-only memory,flash memory, magnetic tape or disk, optical media and the like. Thememory 118 may include a random access memory for the processor 120.Alternatively, the memory 118 may be separate from the processor 120,such as a cache memory of a processor, the system memory, or othermemory. The memory 118 may be an external storage device or database forstoring recorded ad or user data. Examples include a hard drive, compactdisc (CD), digital video disc (DVD), memory card, memory stick, floppydisc, universal serial bus (USB) memory device, or any other deviceoperative to store ad or user data. The memory 118 is operable to storeinstructions executable by the processor 120.

The functions, acts or tasks illustrated in the figures or describedherein may be performed by the programmed processor executing theinstructions stored in the memory 118. The functions, acts, or tasks areindependent of the particular type of instruction set, storage media,processor or processing strategy and may be performed by software,hardware, integrated circuits, firm-ware, micro-code, and the like,operating alone or in combination. Likewise, processing strategies mayinclude multiprocessing, multitasking, parallel processing and the like.The processor 120 is configured to execute the software 116. Thesoftware 116 may include instructions for generating a product page witha plurality of elements and for monitoring user interaction with thatpage and the elements.

The interface 114 may be a user input device or a display. The interface114 may include a keyboard, keypad or a cursor control device, such as amouse, or a joystick, touch screen display, remote control or any otherdevice operative to interact with the indexer 112. The interface 114 mayinclude a display coupled with the processor 120 and configured todisplay an output from the processor 120. The display may be a liquidcrystal display (LCD), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a flatpanel display, a solid state display, a cathode ray tube (CRT), aprojector, a printer or other now known or later developed displaydevice for outputting determined information. The display may act as aninterface for the user to see the functioning of the processor 120, oras an interface with the software 116 for providing input parameters.

The present disclosure contemplates a computer-readable medium thatincludes instructions or receives and executes instructions responsiveto a propagated signal, so that a device connected to a network cancommunicate voice, video, audio, images or any other data over anetwork. The interface 114 may be used to provide the instructions overthe network via a communication port. The communication port may becreated in software or may be a physical connection in hardware. Thecommunication port may be configured to connect with a network, externalmedia, display, or any other components in network system 100, orcombinations thereof. The connection with the network may be a physicalconnection, such as a wired Ethernet connection or may be establishedwirelessly as discussed below. Likewise, the connections with othercomponents of the network system 100 may be physical connections or maybe established wirelessly. Any of the components in the network system100 may be coupled with one another through a network, including but notlimited to the network 104. For example, the indexer 112 may be coupledwith the publisher server 106 and/or the referral server 122 through anetwork. Accordingly, any of the components in the network system 100may include communication ports configured to connect with a network,such as the network 104.

The network (e.g. the network 104) may couple devices so thatcommunications may be exchanged, such as between a server and a clientdevice or other types of devices, including between wireless devicescoupled via a wireless network, for example. A network may also includemass storage, such as network attached storage (NAS), a storage areanetwork (SAN), or other forms of computer or machine readable media, forexample. A network may include the Internet, one or more local areanetworks (LANs), one or more wide area networks (WANs), wire-line typeconnections, wireless type connections, or any combination thereof.Likewise, sub-networks, such as may employ differing architectures ormay be compliant or compatible with differing protocols, mayinteroperate within a larger network. Various types of devices may, forexample, be made available to provide an interoperable capability fordiffering architectures or protocols. As one illustrative example, arouter may provide a link between otherwise separate and independentLANs. A communication link or channel may include, for example, analogtelephone lines, such as a twisted wire pair, a coaxial cable, full orfractional digital lines including T1, T2, T3, or T4 type lines,Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDNs), Digital Subscriber Lines(DSLs), wireless links including satellite links, or other communicationlinks or channels, such as may be known to those skilled in the art.Furthermore, a computing device or other related electronic devices maybe remotely coupled to a network, such as via a telephone line or link,for example. As described herein, the network 104 may be the Internet,which is merely one example of a network.

A wireless network may couple client devices with a network. A wirelessnetwork may employ stand-alone ad-hoc networks, mesh networks, WirelessLAN (WLAN) networks, cellular networks, or the like. A wireless networkmay further include a system of terminals, gateways, routers, or thelike coupled by wireless radio links, or the like, which may movefreely, randomly or organize themselves arbitrarily, such that networktopology may change, at times even rapidly. A wireless network mayfurther employ a plurality of network access technologies, includingLong Term Evolution (LTE), WLAN, Wireless Router (WR) mesh, or 2nd, 3rd,or 4th generation (2G, 3G, or 4G) cellular technology, or the like.Network access technologies may enable wide area coverage for devices,such as client devices with varying degrees of mobility, for example.For example, a network may enable RF or wireless type communication viaone or more network access technologies, such as Global System forMobile communication (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System(UMTS), General Packet Radio Services (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSMEnvironment (EDGE), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced,Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n,or the like. A wireless network may include virtually any type ofwireless communication mechanism by which signals may be communicatedbetween devices, such as a client device or a computing device, betweenor within a network, or the like.

Signal packets communicated via a network, such as a network ofparticipating digital communication networks, may be compatible with orcompliant with one or more protocols. Signaling formats or protocolsemployed may include, for example, TCP/IP, UDP, DECnet, NetBEUI, IPX,Appletalk, or the like. Versions of the Internet Protocol (IP) mayinclude IPv4 or IPv6. The Internet refers to a decentralized globalnetwork of networks. The Internet includes local area networks (LANs),wide area networks (WANs), wireless networks, or long haul publicnetworks that, for example, allow signal packets to be communicatedbetween LANs. Signal packets may be communicated between nodes of anetwork, such as, for example, to one or more sites employing a localnetwork address. A signal packet may, for example, be communicated overthe Internet from a user site via an access node coupled to theInternet. Likewise, a signal packet may be forwarded via network nodesto a target site coupled to the network via a network access node, forexample. A signal packet communicated via the Internet may, for example,be routed via a path of gateways, servers, etc. that may route thesignal packet in accordance with a target address and availability of anetwork path to the target address.

The network connecting the devices described above (e.g. the network104) may be a “content delivery network” or a “content distributionnetwork” (CDN). For example, the publisher server 106 and/or thereferral server 122 may be part of a CDN. A CDN generally refers to adistributed content delivery system that comprises a collection ofcomputers or computing devices linked by a network or networks. A CDNmay employ software, systems, protocols or techniques to facilitatevarious services, such as storage, caching, communication of content, orstreaming media or applications. Services may also make use of ancillarytechnologies including, but not limited to, “cloud computing,”distributed storage, DNS request handling, provisioning, signalmonitoring and reporting, content targeting, personalization, orbusiness intelligence. A CDN may also enable an entity to operate ormanage another's site infrastructure, in whole or in part.

Likewise, the network connecting the devices described above (e.g. thenetwork 104) may be a peer-to-peer (or P2P) network that may employcomputing power or bandwidth of network participants in contrast with anetwork that may employ dedicated devices, such as dedicated servers,for example; however, some networks may employ both as well as otherapproaches. A P2P network may typically be used for coupling nodes viaan ad hoc arrangement or configuration. A peer-to-peer network mayemploy some nodes capable of operating as both a “client” and a“server.” For example, the referral server 122 or the publisher server106 may provide advertisements and/or content to the user device 102over a P2P network, such as the network 104.

The publisher server 106, the publisher database 110, the indexer 112,the referral server 122, and/or the user device 102 may representcomputing devices of various kinds. Such computing devices may generallyinclude any device that is configured to perform computation and that iscapable of sending and receiving data communications by way of one ormore wired and/or wireless communication interfaces, such as interface114. For example, the user device 102 may be configured to execute abrowser application that employs HTTP to request information, such as aweb page, from the publisher server 106. The present disclosurecontemplates the use of a computer-readable medium that includesinstructions or receives and executes instructions responsive to apropagated signal, so that any device connected to a network cancommunicate voice, video, audio, images or any other data over anetwork.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an exemplary indexer 112. The indexer 112 mayinclude an indexing processor 202, which may include or be the same asthe processor 120 discussed above. The indexer 112 may further include adisplay logic generator 204 and/or a content property classifier 201.The publisher server 106 may provide the content indexer 112 with accessto a content item such that the indexer may monitor user access requeststo the content item. The indexing processor 202 receives data regardingthe content item from publishing server 106 for generating a displaylogic relating to the performance or virality or newsworthiness of thecontent item. The indexing processor 202 may analyze user interactionwith the content item to create an index. The display logic generator204 may generate logic used to create graphical representations of theindices.

In one embodiment, the content indexer 112 may use the content propertyclassifier 201 to determine a content property classification 301associated with the content item received from publishing server 106.Exemplary content property classifications 301 are further describedbelow with respect to FIG. 3. In another embodiment, the display logicgenerator 204 may use the content property classification 301 togenerate property-specific display logic for the index. For example, thecontent property classifier 201 may indicate that the content is relatedto the sports 304 property. In this scenario, the display logicgenerator 204 may generate display logic with graphical representationsin relation to other content items within the sports 304 property.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of exemplary content property classifications 301for a content item, such as pages containing, for example, articles,reports, or product information. The content property classifications301 may include features or components that are part of a content item.One or more of the classifications 301 may be determined based oninformation received from the publisher server 106 or referral server122 and/or determined by the content property classifier 201. In oneembodiment, the content indexer 112 may utilize one or more propertyclassifications 301 to generate property classification specific displaylogic. In certain embodiments, there may be one or more classifications301 displayed as part of a single page that allow a user to retrieve aset of indices related to content items sharing the selectedclassification by clicking on the classification. In alternativeembodiments, there may be additional or fewer classifications 301displayed as part of a single page and the elements 301 shown in FIG. 3are merely exemplary and are non-exhaustive.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of exemplary display logic 401 which may be utilizedby display logic generator 204. The content indexer 112 may generate anddisplay indices having a certain characteristic or sort indices by agiven characteristic. In one embodiment, the content indexer 202 mayreceive a request to generate and display indices based on data for thelast month 402 or day 406. In another embodiment, the content indexer202 may receive a request to sort a set of indices by source views 410or publisher views 412, as further described in connection with FIGS. 5and 6. The display logic generator 204 may generate logic based on thecriteria or request given to the indexing processor 202. In alternativeembodiments, there may be additional or fewer characteristics for whichthe display logic generator 204 may generate logic.

Referring back to FIG. 1, a user device 102 may access a content itemthrough a URL or hyperlink provided on a web page hosted by a referralserver 122. The link will redirect the user device 102 to the publishingserver 106 where the content item is stored and/or hosted. The contentindexer 112 monitors the referrals to the content item hosted on thepublishing server 106 and may determine a characteristic associated withthe referral server 122. In one embodiment, the content indexer 112 maydetermine an attribute associated with the referral server based uponinformation in the HTTP request, such as that the referral is from asocial network or from a search engine. The indexer processor 202 mayuse this information to generate or update an index for that contentitem. The display logic generator 204 may generate logic for graphicallydisplaying aspects of the index. In another embodiment, a user may clicka button on the graphical interface to request that content indexer 112display index information relating to one or more content propertyclassifications 301. In additional embodiments, a user may also click abutton on the graphical interface to display or sort the indices by oneor more display logics 401. In various embodiments, such as those shownin FIGS. 7 through 11, some or all of the visual elements may beinteractive and may be configured to allow the user to quickly andefficiently organize the index values according to their needs. In anyevent, the display logic generator 204 generates logic for displayingthe indices in accordance with the user requests. As further describedwith respect to FIGS. 5 and 6, the indices may be generated to indicatethe performance of a content item, such as the content item's viralityor newsworthiness.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an example method of generating an indexmeasurement of the performance of a content item. In block 502, the useraccess requests to content items hosted on a publisher server aremonitored and tracked. For example, content items may be stored in apublisher database and hosted by the publisher on their server or on anelectronic source (such as the webpage). Users may utilize the Internetto navigate to content items in various ways. For example, users maynavigate to a search engine and may enter a keyword search. The searchengine may return a list of results in the form of hyperlinks (links),which may be references to content items or webpages hosted on variouspublisher servers. The user may click a link and be transferred to apage hosted on a publisher website and containing the content item. Inanother example, the user may be browsing a social media network. Theuser may click a link that one of the users within their network hasshared or posted to the network. When the user clicks on the link, theuser may likewise be transferred to a page hosted on a publisher websitecontaining a content item. The access request may contain informationabout the nature of the referral site, for example, in HTTP request. Theway a user may access a content item is not limited. In alternativeembodiments, the content item may be accessed from within the socialnetwork and displayed as embedded content directly on the socialnetworking site, or various other ways for a user to view and access acontent item or webpages containing a content item.

Additionally, once a user has navigated to a content item, the user mayshare the content from the electronic source (such as the webpage) withfriends or other users, such as by posting, sending, or otherwisesharing with other users an identifier for the electronic source (suchas a URL address or other address of a webpage). For example, the usermay copy the identifier (such as a URL address) and post the identifierto a message board or social networking site, or email or text theidentifier to one or more friends or other users. Alternatively, theelectronic source or webpage may include a link that allows the user todirectly post, report, send, or otherwise share the content item.Recipient users, such as other users within the social network, mayinteract with the identifier (such as by clicking on the link orotherwise pasting a URL address into a browser) and access the contentfrom the electronic source. The recipient users may, in turn, share thiscontent with still other users in the same or various other ways. Otherexamples are envisioned and the aforementioned examples are not intendedto be exhaustive.

In block 504, the requests for user access to a content item are beingmonitored and an access request is received. The indexer analyzes theaccess request and may determine one or more variables associated withthe request and/or content item accessed. For example, in block 506, theorigin or referral server of the user access request may be determined.As previously discussed, it may be determined which domain names arereferring traffic to the content item, or that the origin is, forexample, a search engine link or URL displayed on a social network page.In alternative embodiments, a keyword used in a search engine queryassociated with the referral traffic may be determined. At block 508,the indexer may further determine one or more property classificationsassociated with the content item. In one embodiment, the propertyclassifications, such as those described in connection with FIG. 3, maybe used to organize or sort index information based on a comparison toother content items having one or more similar properties. At block 510,the indexer may account for the access origin determined in block 506 inorder to compare the total number of views or access attempts from thegiven origin to the total number of views or access attempts from otherorigins. At block 512, the indexer generates an index or measurementbased, in part, on the proportionality of access attempts from a givenorigin. Also at block 512, the indexer may update one or more previouslygenerated indices based on new access request data. In one embodiment,the indexer may generate or update an index using a formula thatcompares the views originating from search engines to the total viewsfrom all sources in order to determine a proportionality measurement forthe views originating from the search engine (i.e. Search ViralityIndex). For example, the indexer may use the following formula togenerate the Search Virality Index for a given content item:

Search Virality Index=((#of Search Engine Views)*100)/((Total PageViews)−(#of Search Engine Views)).

This is merely one embodiment of a calculation of the index and othervariations are possible.

The indexer may use the Search Virality Index as part of an additionalmeasurement in order to generate an index score representing theperformance of the content item in terms of user access requests for agiven time period. For example, in one embodiment, the indexer may usethe following formula to determine a measurement of the overallperformance a content item for a given hour of the day with respect tosearches originating from a search engine (i.e. Search Y!Ral Index):

Search Y!Ral Index=(Boost Factor Constant)*(Search ViralityIndex)*((Total Search Engine Views for the Article)^(K))/(Total SearchEngine Views in the Given Hour),

where K is a constant used to control for inherent biases (e.g. K may be2 or increased if a website is prone to greater inherent bias). This ismerely one embodiment of a calculation of the index and other variationsare possible.

In additional embodiments, the method for generating indices may takeinto account further considerations and may be adapted to suit the needsof the particular user. For example, some content items may be displayedon webpages that are inherently biased in access requests, such asprovider landing pages or home pages that are necessarily accessed bylarge numbers of users navigating to a particular domain. The method ofFIG. 5 may be adapted to account for such inherent biases or similarconsiderations as may be necessary. For example, in some embodiments theBoost Factor Constant or constant K may be adjusted (e.g. increased) toaccount for degree of inherent biases present with the content item.

In further embodiments, the method of FIG. 5 for generating indices maybe adapted to differentiate between referrals and explicit shares. Forexample, in addition to considering the referral origin of the accessrequest, the method of FIG. 5 may be adapted to account for the numberof access requests to a content item that resulted from, or resulted in,a user explicitly sharing the content item on a social network.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of an example method for utilizing the indexmeasurement to generate graphical representations of the indices. Atblock 602, the indices for one or more content items are generated. Inone embodiment, the indices may be generated according the methodoutlined in FIG. 5. In alternative embodiments, the method forgenerating indices may take into account additional considerations andmay be adapted to suit the needs of the user.

At block 604, the indexer may receive a request to display indiceshaving a certain property value. For example, a user may be shown a listor graphical representation of a set of properties. The user may clickon one of the elements of the graphical representations or otherwiseindicate an intention to select one or more property classifications.FIG. 7 depicts an exemplary graphical representation of visual elementsfor a set of properties or classifications. In one embodiment, a usermay select a property classification, such as Sports, by clicking on thegraphical representation or visual element associated with that propertyin order to cause the indexer to generate graphical representations ofthe indices sharing that property or classification.

Referring back to FIG. 6, at block 606, when a user clicks on a propertyclassification, the indexer may cause logic to be generated fordisplaying a graphical representation of the indices associated with theone or more content items. For example, in one embodiment, the indexermay cause logic to be generated displaying a list of content items andtheir respective index ratings. In another embodiment, the indexer maycause logic to be generated displaying a graph of the index values forone or more content items. The index values for the one or more contentitems may further be grouped according to a property classification, orbased on the referral original as determined in block 506 of FIG. 5. Inadditional embodiments, the visual representations of indices mayfurther be presented according to times associated with the with theaccess requests. For example, the user may click on a visual elementassociated with a particular hour of the day to cause the indexer togenerate graphical representations of the indices for the variouscontent items measuring access requests during that hour. Importantly,the examples described herein are meant to be non-exhaustive and areprovided without limitation. Various embodiments may use fewer oradditional criteria to display the graphical representations or maycombine one or more criteria in a single embodiment.

At block 608, the indexer may receive a request to display the indicesaccording to a given parameter, such as an interval of time. In oneembodiment, the user may request that the indices to be displayedaccording to hour, day, week, or month. In additional embodiments, theindices may be displayed according additional criteria associated withthe visual elements. For example, a user may click on one or more visualelements of the graphical representation to indicate an intent todisplay a list of indices having an attribute associated with the visualelement. At block 610, the indexer may cause additional logic to begenerated in order to display a graphical representation of the indicesaccording to the given attribute or property associated with therespective visual element. At block 612, the indexer may receive arequest to sort the indices according to a given parameter. For example,the user may click on a visual element to send a request for the indexerto sort the indices according to index values from high-to-low or fromlow-to-high. At block 614, the indexer may cause additional logic to begenerated for displaying a graphical representation of the indicesaccording to the request to sort the indices by numerical ranking.

FIG. 8 is an exemplary graphical representation of content item accessrequests based on access origin. In particular, FIG. 8 depicts oneembodiment in which visual elements have been generated representing theindices sharing the “Sports” property. In this embodiment, the visualelement 800 representing content items sharing the “Sports” property hasbeen selected. Visual elements have been generated as line graphs withindividual lines representing index measurements based access origin.For example, line 802 may depict index measurements for content itemsbased on access requests received from a search engine. Line 804 maydepict index measurements for content items based on access requestsreceived from a social network. The bar graphs, such as bar graph 806,may represent total access requests regardless of origin. In thisembodiment, each point of the line graphs and each bar graph representaccess views for a given hour of the day. In additional embodiments, thegraphs may be sorted other time intervals such as day, week, or month asmay be selected via clicking on the corresponding portion of element808. As explained above, any of the visual elements of FIG. 8 may alsobe selected or clicked by a user in order to generate further graphicalrepresentations of the index measurements for one or more content items.The interface may be further customized in order facilitate efficientreview by a user wishing determine the performance of a content item.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary graphical representation of the indexmeasurements or performances of one or more content items. Inparticular, FIG. 9 depicts one embodiment where the index values ofcontent items have been compared and are displayed based on twocriteria. In this embodiment, the line graph acts as visualrepresentation of the performance of the content items and allows theuser to compare the performance with respect to two selected attributesor properties. For example, in an embodiment implemented according tothe method of FIG. 5, as part of the line graph the performance trackermay display two lines, one depicting the Y!Ral Index value for viewsoriginating from a search engine (i.e. Search Y!Ral Index) and the otherdepicting the Y!Ral Index value for views originating from a givensocial networking site (i.e. Social Y!Ral Index). If the userdetermines, for example, that at a certain point in time, the Y!RalIndex value for the social networking site steeply increases, then theuser may be able to determine that the content item has gone viral onwithin a given social network.

Referring back to FIG. 9, in this embodiment, each point of the linegraphs represent performance for a given hour of the day. In additionalembodiments, the graphs may be sorted by other time intervals, such asday, week, or month. In further embodiments, including those depicted inFIGS. 7 through 11, some or all of the visual elements may beinteractive and may be configured to allow the user to quickly andefficiently organize the index values according to their needs.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary graphical representation of the top performingindex measurements for content items within a given propertyclassification. For example, in one embodiment implemented according tothe method in FIG. 5, the performance of an index may use the SearchY!Ral Index score generated by the indexer. Referring back to FIG. 10,in this embodiment, the index measurements for content items having theproperty classification “Sports” have been graphically represented aslists. In particular, the index measurements have been graphicallyrepresented as two separate lists based on access origin. For example,list 1002 may display one or more indices generated based on accessrequests or referrals received from search engines. List 1004 maydisplay one or more indices generated based on access requests orreferrals received from social networks. The indices may be displayedbased upon the values for the top performing links, or content itemswith the highest Y!Ral Index value. Additionally, visual elements may begraphically represented that allow the user to sort the index ratingsfor each content item by additional criteria. Additional embodiments mayallow sorting of index ratings from low-to-high, or high-to-low, or thelike. For example, FIG. 11 is exemplary graphical representation of oneembodiment where visual elements for the lowest performing indexmeasurements are graphically displayed for content items within a givenproperty classification. Importantly, the figures described herein areto be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. Alternativeembodiments may account for one or more of the features depicted in thefigures or may provide additional criteria for utilizing and displayinggraphical representations of the index measurements.

The methods disclosed herein may allow users, such as website producersor advertisers, to more efficiently determine which content items aremost likely to attract viewers or be shared by users of a socialnetwork. As content items receive more views, and in turn receives moreshares within various social networks or gains, the content may reach apoint where the content goes viral and exponentially increases in useraccess requests.

An advertiser or website producer may have interest, financial orotherwise, in determining which content item is more likely to beaccessed and shared with other users than a website that has beenaccessed by comparatively fewer users. For example, given the growth inand importance of online advertising as a source of revenue forenterprises engaged in electronic commerce, many online advertiserswould benefit from associating their advertisements with content itemsthat have gone viral. Specifically, in instances where the socialattributes of a user are difficult to determine, it may be particularlybeneficial to associate advertisements with content items that have goneviral or are otherwise most likely to be viewed by users. The methodsdisclosed herein allow providers of content items to more efficientlytrack, monitor, and determine when particular content items are likelyto go viral and thus which content items are best suited for advertisingmonetization. Additionally, the providers may more efficiently determinewhich content item should be displayed on frequently accessed webpagesin order to best increase page traffic.

The benefits of advertising monetization may be realized in a number ofways. For example, advertising may include sponsored search advertising,non-sponsored search advertising, guaranteed and non-guaranteed deliveryadvertising, ad networks/exchanges, ad targeting, ad serving, and/or adanalytics. Various monetization techniques or models may be used inconnection with sponsored search advertising, including advertisingassociated with user search queries, or non-sponsored searchadvertising, including graphical or display advertising. In anauction-type online advertising marketplace, advertisers may bid inconnection with placement of advertisements, although other factors mayalso be included in determining advertisement selection or ranking. Bidsmay be associated with amounts advertisers pay for certain specifiedoccurrences, such as for placed or clicked-on advertisements, forexample. Advertiser payment for online advertising may be dividedbetween parties including one or more publishers or publisher networks,one or more marketplace facilitators or providers, or potentially amongother parties.

Some models may include guaranteed delivery advertising, in whichadvertisers may pay based at least in part on an agreement guaranteeingor providing some measure of assurance that the advertiser will receivea certain agreed upon amount of suitable advertising, or non-guaranteeddelivery advertising, which may include individual serving opportunitiesor spot market(s), for example. In various models, advertisers may paybased at least in part on any of various metrics associated withadvertisement delivery or performance, or associated with measurement orapproximation of particular advertiser goal(s). For example, models mayinclude, among other things, payment based at least in part on cost perimpression or number of impressions, cost per click or number of clicks,cost per action for some specified action(s), cost per conversion orpurchase, or cost based at least in part on some combination of metrics,which may include online or offline metrics, for example.

The above disclosed subject matter is to be considered illustrative, andnot restrictive, and the appended claims are intended to cover all suchmodifications, enhancements, and other embodiments, which fall withinthe true spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, to the maximumextent allowed by law, the scope of the present invention is to bedetermined by the broadest permissible interpretation of the followingclaims and their equivalents, and shall not be restricted or limited bythe foregoing detailed description. While various embodiments of theinvention have been described, it will be apparent to those of ordinaryskill in the art that many more embodiments and implementations arepossible within the scope of the invention. Throughout the specificationand claims, terms may have nuanced meanings suggested or implied incontext beyond an explicitly stated meaning. Likewise, the phrase “inone embodiment” as used herein does not necessarily refer to the sameembodiment and the phrase “in another embodiment” as used herein doesnot necessarily refer to a different embodiment. It is intended, forexample, that claimed subject matter include combinations of exampleembodiments in whole or in part. Accordingly, the invention is not to berestricted except in light of the attached claims and their equivalents.

The illustrations of the embodiments described herein are intended toprovide a general understanding of the structure of the variousembodiments. The illustrations are not intended to serve as a completedescription of all of the elements and features of apparatus and systemsthat utilize the structures or methods described herein. Many otherembodiments may be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewingthe disclosure. Other embodiments may be utilized and derived from thedisclosure, such that structural and logical substitutions and changesmay be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure.Additionally, the illustrations are merely representational and may notbe drawn to scale. Certain proportions within the illustrations may beexaggerated, while other proportions may be minimized. Accordingly, thedisclosure and the figures are to be regarded as illustrative ratherthan restrictive.

One or more embodiments of the disclosure may be referred to herein,individually and/or collectively, by the term “invention” merely forconvenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope of thisapplication to any particular invention or inventive concept. Moreover,although specific embodiments have been illustrated and describedherein, it should be appreciated that any subsequent arrangementdesigned to achieve the same or similar purpose may be substituted forthe specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to cover anyand all subsequent adaptations or variations of various embodiments.Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments notspecifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in theart upon reviewing the description.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R.§1.72(b) and is submitted with the understanding that it will not beused to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. Inaddition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, various features may begrouped together or described in a single embodiment for the purpose ofstreamlining the disclosure. This disclosure is not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require morefeatures than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as thefollowing claims reflect, inventive subject matter may be directed toless than all of the features of any of the disclosed embodiments. Thus,the following claims are incorporated into the Detailed Description,with each claim standing on its own as defining separately claimedsubject matter.

We claim:
 1. A system for measuring the virality of content items on anetwork, the system comprising: a publisher server for providing a pagecomprising a content item; a referral server for providing user remoteaccess to the content item; an indexer for measuring the performance ofa content items, wherein the indexer generates an index score for thecontent item; and a logic generator for displaying a visual element,wherein the visual element is a graphical representation of the indexscore.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the indexer is furtherconfigured to determine an origin attribute associated with the referralserver.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the indexer is furtherconfigured to generate an index score using the origin attributeassociated with the referral server.
 4. The system of claim 2, whereinthe origin attribute is the type of webpage referring the accessrequest.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the type of webpage is asocial network or search engine.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein theindexer is further configured to determine an attribute propertyassociated with the content item.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein theattribute property comprises one or more of sports, news, business,social websites, entertainment, travel, automobile, video, lifestyle,tabloid, knowledge market, or geographic features
 8. The system of claim1, wherein the visual representation is a line graph, bar graph, orsortable list.
 9. A non-transitory computer readable medium havingstored therein data representing instructions executable by a programmedprocessor for measuring the virality of web content, the storage mediumcomprising instructions operative for: monitoring a web content item;identifying when the web content item has received an access request bya remote network resource; determining a property associated with anorigin of the access request; determining a total number of accessrequests for the web content item; determining a performance measurementof the web content item using the origin of the access request and thetotal number of access requests; and displaying a graphicalrepresentation of the performance measurement of the web content. 10.The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the property associated with theorigin is the type of website referring the access request.
 11. Thestorage medium of claim 10, wherein the type of website is a searchengine or social networking site.
 12. The storage medium of claim 9,further comprising instructions operative for determining an attributeproperty associated with the web content item.
 13. The storage medium ofclaim 12, wherein the attribute property comprises one or more ofsports, news, business, social websites, entertainment, travel,automobile, video, lifestyle, tabloid, knowledge market, or geographicfeatures.
 14. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the graphicalrepresentation comprises a line graph, bar graph, or sortable list. 15.A computer-implemented method of measuring the virality of web-content,comprising: monitoring a content item; identifying when the content itemhas received an access request by a remote network resource; determininga property associated with an origin of the access request; determininga total number of access requests for the content item; determining avirality measurement of the content item using the property associatedwith the origin of the access request and the total number of accessrequests; and displaying a graphical representation of the viralitymeasurement of the content.
 16. The computer-implemented method of claim15, further comprising determining an attribute property associated withthe content item.
 17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16,wherein the attribute property is one or more of sports, news, business,social websites, entertainment, travel, automobile, video, lifestyle,tabloid, knowledge market, or geographic features.
 18. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the property associatedwith the origin of the access request is the type of webpage referringthe access request.
 19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18,wherein the type of webpage is a search engine or social network. 20.The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the graphicalrepresentation comprises a line graph, bar graph, or sortable list.